Medtronic Lawsuit

NEW YORK — Analysts said Tuesday that a product recall hurt Medtronic Inc. less than feared, which could help the stock to bounce back from annual lows.

Medtronic recalled its Sprint Fidelis leads, which are wires that connect implantable defibrillators to the heart, in October. The company discovered that the leads broke more often than expected and contributed to at least five deaths.

The company said in a conference call that the recall hurt second-quarter earnings by 9 cents to 10 cents per share and that the affect of the recall will decline in future quarters as it ramps production of an older wire.

Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Robert Faulkner said the worst is behind the company. He kept an “Overweight” rating on the stock, and cut his price target to $51 per share from $62 to include the results of the recall.

Medtronic shares reached an annual low Monday, and closed the session at $45.25. The shares rose $1 to $46.25 in premarket trading Tuesday.

“The implication here is that fears of massive share loss for Medtronic were likely overblown,” Faulkner wrote.

JPMorgan analyst Michael Weinstein said the uncertainty of the recall is clearing up, and the market can look at the company’s good qualities.

“Investors can for the first time in weeks focus on Medtronic’s fundamentals outside of cardiac rhythm management and the potential for a 2008 acceleration story at a dramatically discounted price,” he said.

To learn more, please contact the Medtronic Lawsuit Attorneys at Williams Kherkher at 1.800.220.9341.